When you gift your grandchildren assets it can do more than help your descendants get a good start in life -- it can also reduce the size of your estate and the tax that will be due upon your death. Perhaps the simplest approach to gifting is to give the grandchild an outright gift.
If your spouse is in a nursing home or at heightened risk for needing such care in the future, special planning measures should be taken. Those measures include dealing with what happens if you, the healthy, so called “community spouse” pass away first. In that case, the spouse in the nursing home may become ineligible
The maximum amount that can be contributed each year to an ABLE account for a person with disabilities rose $1,000 to $16,000 on January 1, 2022. The figure, which is tied to the inflation-adjusted value of the IRS’s gift tax annual exclusion, had been stuck at $15,000 since 2018. Pennsylvania and 45 other states offer ABLE
Being the executor of an estate can be a time-consuming job, depending on the size and complexity of the estate. While a simple estate can take a few months and not require a huge time commitment, if there are problems, the job can drag on for years. An executor is the person responsible for managing
If you are about to turn 70, congratulations on reaching a big milestone. And if you also have delayed claiming Social Security retirement benefits up till now, you are joining a select group -- only 6.5 percent of Social Security recipients put off collecting their benefits until they reach three score and ten, the age
When a married person applies for Medicaid, the Medicaid agency must analyze the income and assets of the applicant and the applicant’s spouse as of a particular date to determine eligibility. Elder Law attorneys refer to this as the “snapshot” date. It can have a major impact on a couple’s financial future. In order to
As a trust beneficiary, you may feel that you are at the mercy of the trustee, but depending on the type of trust, beneficiaries may have rights to ensure the trust is properly managed. A trust is a legal arrangement through which one person, called a "settlor" or "grantor," gives assets to another person (or an
Running a small business can keep you busy, but it should not keep you from creating an estate plan. Not having a plan in place can cause problems for your business and your family after you are gone. While an estate plan is important for everyone, it is especially important for small business owners. Planning
A Roth IRA does not have to be used as just a retirement plan; it can also be a way to transfer assets tax-free to the next generation. Unlike a traditional IRA, contributions to a Roth IRA are taxed, which means that the distributions are tax-free. Also, unlike a traditional IRA, you are also not
Preparing a Medicaid application to qualify a loved-one for benefits to pay for nursing home care is a difficult and often long, drawn-out process. Detailed information regarding assets, income and expenses must be gathered and documented, including transfers for less than fair market value made by applicant or spouse within the 60-month “look-back” period immediately
